Rewarding a stay with freeze-dried salmon bits

Salmon treats for stay training are delivered to the dog, not the other way around. Ask for the stay, step away, step back, and hand over one small bit while your dog is still in place. Add time and distance a little at a time, and count each payout against the day's allowance.

How do you teach stay with salmon treats?

A stay is your dog holding one position until you say it is over, whether that position is sitting, lying down or standing. The salmon is the payment for holding, and the release word is how you end the job. Here is one rep:

1. Have the bits broken and in your pay hand.
2. Ask for the stay with your dog in position.
3. Step away, then step back.
4. Deliver one bit while your dog is still in place.
5. Say your release word.
6. At the end of the session, reseal the pouch and wash your hands.

Treat it like a parking brake: you set it, it holds, and you release it on purpose. Keep the release word the same from rep to rep.

Every bit you walk back to your dog is salmon that was raw before we freeze-dried it, which is why hand washing is the last step on the list. The bag says: "Wash your hands after handling it." The listing adds its own training line: "Break each piece down before you start and pay out one bit at a time."

Should you bring the treat to your dog or call your dog to you?

For a stay, bring it. The reward goes to the dog in position, and the dog does not move to collect it. If you call your dog out of the stay to pay, you have asked for a different cue, and that cue is coming when called. Recall has its own steps, and they are not here.

Walking back to your dog takes a few steps on your part, so keep the pay hand ready. The bits should already be broken and waiting, not in the pouch. The listing says the pieces break into small, quick rewards, and a small bit is quick to hand over while the dog holds still.

Release comes after the bit, not before. Pay first, then say the release word, then let your dog move. That order holds whether you stepped away a little or a lot.

How do you add time and distance to a stay?

A little at a time. Add more time or more distance, never both in one rep. If the last rep went well, make the next one slightly harder in one direction. If it did not, go back to the step that worked.

We give no seconds and no step counts, and you will not find a magic number of reps in the listing either. Those depend on your dog, your yard and your patience, and nothing on the bag or in the listing supplies them. A trainer who can see the two of you can set the numbers. Until then, write down what you did in a session, in plain words, so the next session can start from the same place.

Keep each rep plain. You are only changing one thing at a time, and that is what makes it easy to see which change was too big.

How much salmon does stay practice use?

Each payout is one bit, and the bits are a share of the day's treats. Stays cost salmon only when you pay, so start with the weight: the treat budget calculator on our product page takes your dog's daily calories and gives back a weight of salmon at its fixed 10 percent, with no other setting. Where your veterinarian gives your dog a different number, the vet's wins.

Stay practice can look like a lot of standing around for very few payouts. Count the payouts, since they are what come out of the allowance. Our guide to salmon training treats has the session basics, and the guides hub lists the rest.